On weekends, LaNeisha, a 33-year-old in San Francisco, borrows a friend’s car to drive for Uber. When she discovered that she could rent out her closet for $290 through a startup called Roost, she turned it into a storage unit. She finds other gigs on Craiglist. For LaNeisha, who struggled to find work otherwise, it’s a way to survive. But it’s not easy.

A new report looks at the workers of the on-demand economy–from Lyft drivers and EatWith chefs to former McKinsey consultants who now use Catalant to find clients–and argues that we need to redesign platforms and policies so all of those workers can have sustainable livelihoods.

“The algorithms that power these platforms don’t come from above,” says Marina Gorbis, executive director of Institute for the Future, which produced the report. “They’re shaped by human beings, at least for now. We need to really deeply think and understand the early signals of this transformation, and start seriously thinking about how you design the emerging platform for positive outcomes.”